I received a free copy through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

Reclaim Your Mind caught my eye on Netgalley and I was excited to read this one. I am glad I did as I really liked this book. The focus of this book is on how to enjoy tech mindfully. I really liked the encouraging tone of this book and the focus on what you can do to improve your relationship with tech. I also appreciated he seemed to genuinely like tech and didn't advocate for stepping away of it altogether, but instead setting boundaries and interacting with it in a way that works for you.

I love what tech has brought to my life even though I also struggle with parts of it and I thought this book captured those two sides well. I also liked how simple and applicable a lot of the advice was. It also was fun to see some of the strategies I used myself in the book, like making it harder access to apps/ sites that kept capturing my attention.

This book had a lot of good ideas and tips. It also gave me more understanding and language for why I struggle with some things like certain games or social media and also ideas for how to handle things better. And I felt this understanding was very valuable. It isn't a very long read and I liked how it's split up in sections making it easy to pick up and read a bit.

A few things I want to mention is that the focus is mostly on phones and apps. Probably because of how phones are one of the easiest ways to grab your attention no matter were you are. There isn't as much about computer or laptops, although a lot of advice is easily transferable to those. I also felt the author seemed to value voice or video connecting over text. While for me personally text is such an important medium in which I communicate with people online through direct messages, comments, emails and blogging. Then again I am neurodivergent which does change things, which he does mention, although he doesn't go into detail about that.

To summarize: This was a great book focused on enjoying tech mindfully. I liked the positive encouraging tone and the focus on what you can do to improve your relationship with tech. I also appreciated how the author clearly loved tech and didn't advocate for reducing or stopping your use altogether. I liked the variety of strategies and tips the book had and how it gave me additional insight and language for my struggles with tech as well as what I like about it. The focus of this book is on phones and apps, but a lot of the strategies can be easily adapted for other medium. I also thought his opinion of text seemed a bit low compared to other modes of communication and as a neurodivergent person one of the things I love about tech is how I can communicate using text. I can definitely recommend this book!

"Reclaim Your Mind" took me longer to finish than it should have—not because of the book, but because I kept getting distracted by social media, YouTube, and my phone. When I finally got my two brain cells together to focus, I felt so called out—but also comforted. Jay Vidyarthi reassures you that 1) you’re not alone in your tech struggles, and 2) there are real, practical ways to take back control. His personal anecdotes make the book engaging, and the seven strategies are simple yet effective. A quick, insightful read that has already helped me rethink my screen habits.

Thanks to Jay Vidyarthi, Still Ape Press, and NetGalley for providing me with a chance to read an ARC of this book. The opinions in this review are my own.

I struggle a lot - particularly these days - with doomscrolling through news and social media feeds, to the point that it crowds out activities that bring me joy or strengthen me. But I’ve also made important friendships and had valuable experiences online. Jay Vidyarthi gets both sides of this issue.

This book doesn’t minimize the way that tech is designed to take ruthless control of your attention or the downsides to tech overuse, but it also is clearheaded about the ubiquity of tech in modern life and the genuine enjoyment it can bring. You won’t be scolded for being attached to your phone here, but you will be encouraged to turn mindful attention on your technology use - to figure out when it’s serving you and when you’re serving it. Experiential activities are included to help guide a more mindful approach to tech.

I came away from this book wanting to implement more of its strategies moving forward. I do wish he’d said more about how tech affects different types of brains - there’s an aside about his arguments and techniques maybe not applying to people who are neurodivergent, and I wish he had fleshed that out more. Some parts of the early book feel repetitive. But overall this is a worthwhile read. I can see myself recommending it to my clients.

I really wanted to love this book. I read quite a bit of social psychology books, and I am very interested in mindfulness and responsible tech usage. This book fell a little flat to me though. An disproportional amount of time seemed to be spent talking about various retreats that the author has gone on. I also disagreed with his stance that tech is nature. Specifically when he says "when we say we want to 'get out in nature,' what we really mean is that we want to get way from human nature." There is a multitude of research that supports how valuable green spaces are. When people "opt outside" they are opting for green spaces and the psychological benefits they deliver. This argument did not hold water for me. Overall, there were a few things I take away from this book, such as making mindful noticings about how tech makes you feel instead of stringent, meaningless limits, but the book left me wanting more. Thanks Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Tired of mindlessly spending too much time on your phone? This book offers several strategies to bring awareness to technology usage, fight design with design, and actually give full attention to technology when you do use it.

RECLAIM YOUR MIND is the perfect read for the start of a new year. So many people struggle with addiction to their phone, unhealthy time spent on social media, etc. Vidyarthi has some really good suggestions that I look forward to implementing. His advice is conveyed wisely and without judgment or condescension. This book should have a wide appeal for readers of all ages. I highly recommend it for self-help readers looking for how to have a healthier relationship to technology.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-galley; all opinions in my review are 100% my own.

Overall, the book was well written and I did really enjoy it. Thank you for this advance reading copy!

Reclaim your mind
Synopsis
Self help book for those struggling with technology addiction. It has 7 different strategies and tips on how to limit screen time. It goes over the technical challenges with technology that most people face.

Thoughts
I loved chapter 7 of this book, how to reduce friction. That’s the main one that I’ll try and implement in my life. Though most of the tips are useful. While you don’t have to completely cut out technology from your life, there are still steps and hacks that you can take to improve your usage. I liked chapter 9 as well, positivity is important. I enjoyed having personal recounts of how the author has used technology. It helped me relate to the book better.

Audience
Pretty much for anyone with technology addictions. But it could also be targeted towards both youth and adults. So the book has a wide range of people. Something the author or publisher could do is check the data of how many people use technology and where and target that area.